YouTube Will Start Removing New Content Alleging Widespread Election Fraud

Video streaming service YouTube will begin removing videos that allege there was widespread fraud in the election that tilted the results in President-elect Joe Biden‘s favor.

In a blog post on Wednesday, YouTube said, “Our main goal going into the election season was to make sure we’re connecting people with authoritative information, while also limiting the reach of misinformation and removing harmful content.”

“We also disallow content alleging widespread fraud or errors changed the outcome of a historical U.S. Presidential election. However, in some cases, that has meant allowing controversial views on the outcome or process of counting votes of a current election as election officials have worked to finalize counts,” the post continued.

“Yesterday was the safe harbor deadline for the U.S. Presidential election, and enough states have certified their election results to determine a President-elect. Given that, we will start removing any piece of content uploaded today (or anytime after) that misleads people by alleging that widespread fraud or errors changed the outcome of the 2020 U.S. Presidential election, in line with our approach towards historical U.S. Presidential elections.”

The post went on to explain that YouTube would remove videos that claim a candidate won the election because of “widespread software glitches or counting errors.”

The company said the new policy would go into effect on Wednesday.

“As always, news coverage and commentary on these issues can remain on our site if there’s sufficient education, documentary, scientific or artistic context,” it added.

Biden has secured